Desolate North

Desolate North is the debut

The album received mixed reviews—some critics claimed it was fresh and a new sound, while others argued it was very similar to music already available. Desolate North has an extremely slow rhythm and has only limited vocals. The music is interspersed with various woodland sounds, such as running water and footsteps. The natural imagery used on the album is reminiscent of that used in black metal, but the music is closer to ambient.

Recording

The album was recorded in three parts. First, Anderson recorded the music for Ashen. This was done in a wooden loft in the corner of the rehearsal space used by Azrael, of whom Anderson was, at the time, a member. Anderson has said that he does not remember how long this recording took him, as he slept there after finishing the work. He described that space as perfect for the recording, as there was nothing there to distract him.^[1]

As the entire album was recorded and played by Anderson, the only option was to record the music in layers. First, he recorded the drums, using a drum kit. However, he was unhappy with the way they sounded, and so re-recorded on a drum machine. The next layers to be recorded were the guitar, bass and vocals, with other sounds being added later.^[1]

The other three songs on Desolate North one was recorded at the same place in early 2005, and the other two, the harp pieces, were recorded at Anderson's home. He has said how this was the most difficult part of the recording. As it happened, Anderson misplaced his microphone stand and so recorded those two songs with the microphone tucked under his chin. Despite the hindrance, Anderson claimed that the microphone picked up everything, and he was happy with the result.^[1]

Anderson has described the process as giving the album a "raw" sound,^[2] and he has hypothesized that it is because of the raw sound of the album that critics have described his work as having influences from black metal.^[3] Although the album's production was criticised by Ignacio Coluccio of Maelstrom,^[4] Kim Kelly, of Pivotal Alliance, praised the album for its high quality recording, explaining that it "is not raw, necro black metal at all".^[5]

Release

A small number of copies of Ashen were sent to various people. Marty Rytkonen, of Bindrune Recordings, was the only person attached to a record label to receive one, and Celestiial was then taken on by Bindrune. Anderson was very happy with this, as he had been an avid reader of Worm Gear (a magazine attached to the label) when he was younger.^[1][3] Despite the fact that Anderson had not written Desolate North with the intention of it ever being released,^[3] in 2006, it was released by Bindrune Recordings.^[6] The CD version released by Bindrune Recordings is now out of print. However, in 2011, the album was rereleased in vinyl LP format by Handmade Birds, and the album remains available in digital format.^[7][8][9]

Musical style

Desolate North has been described as taking "the template of the funeral doom genre... and disembowel[ing] the formula even further".

Anderson admits that there may be death metal influences in the vocals, but says that it was not a conscious design, and that the music does not have any other similarities to death metal. He claims that there are no black metal influences. He says that describing Celestiial's music as folk is a bad idea, as folk is such a broad, vague description as to make it meaningless. He says that what he is creating is neither folk, nor traditional, and even the harp songs are not traditional works, though they are influenced by the traditional music of the United Kingdom and traditional Irish music.^[3]

Imagery

Desolate North uses imagery very much based around nature, with natural sounds sampled in the music, and imagery involving woodland, and, as one reviewer put it, "the scary places that we all fear when the lights are out".^[11] Bindrune recordings describes this affinity for nature by saying that "Celestiial was created to mirror mysticism in nature."^[6]

Brandon Stosuy, of

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Decibel Magazine	Positive[10]
Sea of Tranquility	[11]
Maelstrom	[4]
Stylus Magazine	Negative[15]

Desolate North received mixed reviews. The album garnered positive reviews from a number of

Reviewers disagreed on the originality of the music—while Seward claimed that it was new and inventive,[10] Murat Batmaz, of Maelstrom, said that it was very typical funeral doom metal.^[11] Negative reviews and comments talked about the poor production and guitars,^[4] and the lack of speed in the music, combined with the monotony of the sound.^[11] Seward felt that the album "is not 'heavy' music in the least, if we’re talking volume and crunch", but that "it is 'heavy' music if we’re talking about the end product: a deep and pervasively creepy atmosphere that is compelling in its use of silence and hushed reverence for the forest floor".^[10]

Track listing

Sources